Nuclear Energy Institute

The Nuclear Energy Institute is a trade association that promotes the interests of nuclear energy producers and regional utility providers.

Hill+Knowlton Contracts

Every year from 2008 to 2016, NEI has contracted one of the country’s oldest PR firms, Hill+Knowlton (H+K). From 2008 to 2016, NEI has paid H+K almost $22.7 million for their PR work. H+K was not listed on NEI’s 2017 990 as a contractor.

H+K is more widely known for assisting the tobacco industry in covering up the harmful effects of smoking, but they also participate in greenwashing and front group creation.

Another long-running contract for NEI has been with Smith & Harroff, a Virginia based PR firm that specializes in trade association and political PR work. S&H has run various print, radio, and video campaigns for NEI, including greenwashing ads that claim “We can’t reduce CO2 enough without nuclear energy.”

Smith & Harroff posted this video as an example of the work they have done for NEI.

NEI has also been working with new-comer PR firm Kivvit, paying them $12.1m between 2015 and 2016.

On Kivvit’s website, the firm discusses their work on nuclear energy advocacy, without specifically mentioning their contracts with NEI. Kivvit highlights their campaign titled Nuclear Matters, where they “implemented a robust public affairs campaign, which includes advertising, sponsored event series, media relations, grasstops recruitment, third-party advocacy, and targeted social media engagement.” In a June 2014 campaign overview, Nuclear Matters is described as, “…a bipartisan campaign to engage and inform policymakers and the public about the need to preserve existing nuclear energy plants due to their critical role in America’s energy mix.”